Religion or psychosis?

Normally religion comforts people who went through rough times, so they use the religion as a crutch until they are stable enough to accept their past, present and any goals they may have for the future. Whether that means they become a preacher, a teacher or revert back to crime, does not matter. The ability to believe in something, anything, can often bring people out of their darkest hour with hope.

I think this is a common thing. Unfortunately, many users have an "addictive personality", which got them to using in the first place. I have seen several people do this.

They drop one habit and pick up another. However, while I do feel religion is a much less poisonous substance than most drugs, it can be damaging to be so overly obsessed with it. Just like any belief, if you go overboard with it, it can become a consuming obsession.

Anyone can see anything they want (and it can be as real to them as reality to everyone else) if they become obsessed with it. And since you know he was an addict to something, perhaps he replaced that addiction with this obsession. But nobody can say for sure what is real or false, so I may be wrong or right.

Often when people change their lives, they go to the opposite extreme. One key example I've experienced is when smokers quit smoking cigarettes and then condemn everyone who smokes. It's a natural step and hopefully they'll find the happy-medium once they have this out of their system.

Phoebe and jake~ thank you for your responses; both helpful. The obsessive behaviour is quite scary. But yeah you're right phoebe, any form of hope is better than none at all.

Smzclark; Addiction is created when one repetitively and compulsively uses something like a drug, alcohol (also a drug) or some other form of stimulant. Each time they repeat it they build a deeper imprint of the neurological circuit. It is much like drawing a line and then tracing over it again and again making it darker and deeper with each pass.

Remember that underlying all of our complexities we are basically an electronic device. By that I mean that our thoughts and senses are electrical impulses that travel along neurons. When one quits an addiction it is like ripping out a wire in a circuit board.

The board may function without that wire but in the case of something as complex and finely tuned as out brain it is bound to have repercussions. Often our subconscious begins seeking a replacement for that stimulus. Neurologists have done brain mapping and found that religion give a return quite similar to drugs.It is most likely that your friend has, more or less, simply switched "drugs" to get that sensation.

Your friend should adjust to the change away from addiction and level out but he might also simply plunge deeper into his new addiction. Of course this is an oversimplification if you want a fuller understanding research neuropathology and addiction.In a nutshell it is a form of psycosis... sort of. A psychosis is a break from reality, so its not quite the same thing.

Religion is intoxicating, once you are committed to it, it takes over your entire life. That's is what your friend is going through, just give him your support and he'll be doing very great.

Religious psychosis is actually happening and in most cases people who suffer from this kind of disease are those who interpret the Bible differently and took it seriously on their own understanding.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.